Community: PSD, schools served 'nontraditional' role during fire

Nov. 18, 2012

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From the fires in Colorado Springs and northwest of Fort Collins to the shooting in Aurora, it was the same: This summer, school districts across the state found themselves serving a new and unexplored role during times of crisis.

The High Park Fire broke out June 9 when classes weren’t in session. At the time, Poudre School District’s “main mission of educating kids wasn’t a factor,” spokeswoman Danielle Clark said, but there was a “role and void to fill in our community.”

“In many cases, school was a home away from home for them,” Clark said of the dozens of district families impacted by the fast-moving fire that burned 259 homes to the ground, ravaged thousands of acres and took one life. Some families didn’t trust in local or county government but did have faith in their schools, she said, whereas school was for other families was a “haven” or information center.

“It was kind of a nontraditional role for us,” Clark said of the district’s efforts to connect its students, employees and their families with resources. “That hadn’t really happened before.”

When district leaders realized the fire’s effects would be longer-term, they mobilized counseling support while principals reached out to families to assess needs. Also born out of the tragedy was the position of High Park Fire liaison, given to Patrick Kind, who previously served as principal of the mountain schools.

For weeks on end, Kind worked with others in the district to track down families and support them in any way possible. He zipped from evacuee meeting to evacuee meeting and coordinated barbecues, ice cream socials and swim days to give members of the once-tight-knit community opportunities to reconnect.

To this day, he spends at least one day a week — many times more often — meeting with parents, students and employees. “Often times, it’s just being an ear for people,” he said.

Members of Transportation Services also worked with six displaced families to make sure students could attend schools of choice — even if those are now miles and miles from their current homes. One student living within Thompson School District bounds in Loveland takes the bus to Stove Prairie, Clark said, while others ride two hours to and from school.

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“Our goal was to make sure school transportation was the least of the families’ worries,” Transportation Director Matt Bryant said in an email to the Coloradoan.

Together, district employees have donated thousands of dollars in gift cards to fire survivors, Clark said. And with the holidays just around the corner, hundreds from PSD and throughout the community have crafted or donated ornaments bound for the trees and homes of High Park Fire families.

Clark said Kind will serve as High Park Fire liaison through the end of the semester. His position is a testament to the district’s commitment to helping families in need, Kind said, a need that persists — at least for now.

“There’s a need now, and it’s hard to pinpoint when that will go away,” Kind said, adding that he’s humbled to work with families who have lost everything but still ask how they can help others.

Devra Ashby is Clark’s counterpart down in Colorado Springs District 11, where the Waldo Canyon Fire threatened to burn two schools and changed forever the lives of hundreds in the district. There, too, people came together, rallied around the schools and thrived — despite the chaos around them.

“It’s really neat to see ... in an era where there’s choice ... there’s still that neighborhood school and neighborhood feel,” she said.

“I’m glad that both our communities are rebuilding and came out stronger,” she said.